Wenger: Ozil contract extension may have left him in 'comfort zone'

Arsene Wenger has questioned whether Mesut Ozil's lucrative long-term contract is a factor in his fall from the Arsenal team.

Ozil signed a £350,000-a-week deal lasting until 2021 last year and Wenger said players can slip into a 'comfort zone' with such financial security.

Wenger was Arsenal manager when Ozil put pen to paper but hinted that was a club decision as he personally feels players entering their final months stay motivated.

Ozil has repeatedly been left out of the Arsenal squad by Unai Emery, with various reasons cited, and it appears the 30-year-old will leave the Emirates in the summer if a buyer can be found.

Asked about Ozil's problems during a Q+A at the Laureus World Sports Awards in Monaco, Wenger said: 'I feel that the length of the contract has nothing to do normally with the selection of the team. But sometimes there are special cases.

'Most of the time now we think when we sign a player for five years we have a good player for five years. But that doesn't necessarily mean that they practice, they play their best. Because they might be in their comfort zone.

'When the player is only five or six months it is a bit different, it was the case of Adrien Rabiot and Paris Saint-Germain, Aaron Ramsey at Arsenal..'

But Wenger refuted the suggestion signing up Ozil was a mistake.

'He has a contract but the problem is that if you want to buy a player like him you have to spend £100million,' he said. 'And to maintain the value of the player, beyond the Ozil case, it is more about the way football is structured.

'So the decision you have to make is whether you re-sign the player, who costs us nothing, or do we have the money to buy a new player.'